Rhode Island
Rhode Island man to plead guilty to setting fire to Black church
Kevin Colantonio, 35, of North Providence, R.I., was arrested a few days after the fire at Shiloh Gospel Temple. He is expected to admit to targeting the church because of its mostly Black membership.
Burning At Shiloh Gospel Temple
United States Attorney Zachary Cunha addresses media.
PROVIDENCE, R. I. – A Rhode Island man has agreed to plead guilty to charges that he set fire to a North Providence church earlier this year, targeting it because of its mostly Black membership, according to court documents.
Kevin Colantonio of North Providence was arrested a few days after the early morning fire Feb. 11 at Shiloh Gospel Temple, a Pentecostal church.
He admitted to buying a Bic lighter and gasoline at a nearby Cumberland Farms shortly before midnight, pouring the gasoline around the outside of the church and igniting it, according to a plea agreement filed Friday in U.S. District Court, Providence.
Colantonio’s actions caused church services to be cancelled, according to court records, preventing its congregants from their free exercise of religion. He stipulated he chose the church because of actual or perceived color, race, religion, national origin or ethnicity of its members.
Surveillance video, information from witnesses and a bank card helped lead police to Colantonio. Investigators said they found racist writings in Colantonio’s apartment. Prosecutors read from one of them during Colantonio’s initial court appearance four days after the fire. It said: “Hunt them down. Gun everyone who isn’t white.”
Colantonio has also agreed to plead guilty to charges that he threw feces and urine at two prison guards who were delivering his breakfast on March 4 at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility in Central Falls, court papers show.
Colantonio was charged with damage to a religious property, malicious damage by means of fire and two counts of assault of a federal officer. The first two counts carry a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and a $250,000 fine. The second count requires a minimum sentence of five years.
The arson unnerved the church community, which has about 100 members, and drew intense police scrutiny. Pastor Eric Perry said the fire could have been fatal if the church had been holding a service when it was set.
Rhode Island
Grief grips RI as Spencer Lane, mother Christine Conrad Lane are killed in plane crash
‘DCA is a complex airport’: Aviation expert on plane crash
An aviation expert explains why Washington National Airport is “complex” to land at following the fatal airplane crash.
- 16-year-old figure skater Spencer Lane and his mother, Christine Conrad Spencer, were killed in a midair collision at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
- Christine will be remembered for her creativity, passion for helping animals, and her deep connection to friends and family.
- The Rhode Island skating community, including close friends, is devastated by the tragic loss, with many sharing heartfelt tributes.
BARRINGTON − Devastation spread across the Rhode Island figure-skating community Thursday with word that 16-year-old skater Spencer Lane and his mom, Christine Conrad Lane, 49, were among those who died in Wednesday night’s midair collision at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C.
“We’re all just gutted and heartbroken,” Lisa Duffy, a friend and co-worker of Christine Lane at Residential Properties Ltd., told The Providence Journal Thursday afternoon.
“Our skaters are our family and we all feel this terrible loss deeply,” Warwick Figure Skaters, a skating club there, said in a post Thursday on its Facebook page. Spencer “was always a bright light at our rink. He was kind and a friend to so many of his fellow skaters. He was a fiercely determined and fearless skater, always challenging himself. He was in love with the sport from the beginning and it showed.”
Family statement: “You simply could not stop him if he decided he wanted to do something.”
The family was traveling to Washington Thursday afternoon and issued a statement through a friend.
“Spencer can only be described as a force of nature. You simply could not stop him if he decided he wanted to do something. There is no better example of this than his remarkable skating journey, which we are heartbroken to see end too soon,” the statement said. “We are so grateful that his last week was filled with joy and surrounded by his beloved Skating Club of Boston and the U.S. Figure Skating family.”
The statement also said, “Christine exuded creativity throughout her life, using her formal graphic design training as a jumping-off point for seemingly endless creative pursuits across areas such as photography, quilting, knitting, and more. She brought even greater passion to her role as a mother to Spencer and his brother Milo. She was also a lover of animals, and we lost track of how many dogs she helped place in loving adoptive homes.”
“She had a contagious laugh. She was a bright, bright light,” Christine Lane’s friend Duffy remembered her. “Everybody was happy to be in her company.”
And Lane’s son was special. Anyone who was around him felt they were “in the company of a future Olympian,” said Duffy, who added that many were tracking where future Olympics would be held so they could get a jump on buying tickets.
Final words between friends
Lane found friends in all corners of her life, whether it was fostering dogs; knitting and sewing circles; or the skating community. “There’s nobody who ever met her who didn’t like her,” Duffy said. “No matter what it was, she found a way to connect with you.”
Duffy said that she and Lane communicated frequently while the Lanes were in Wichita. “I was watching the nationals on TV and texting her, and saying I was looking for her and her son.”
Just before mother and son began their journey back toward Rhode Island, Duffy texted and asked whether they were still in Kansas or in the air on the way home.
“Wichita, baby!” was the response.
“I blew her a bunch of kisses,” said Duffy.
Later, Duffy sent Lane a TikTok that at least half-joked that today’s fractured world would be better off if people just did more crafts, like knitting and quilting.
She sent that at 8:04 p.m., and expected a funny reply from Lane after her friend landed.
Flight 5342 crashed around 9 p.m.
“Beyond heartbroken”
“I am just beyond heartbroken for her husband and younger son,” said Duffy. “We’re going to rally and help her husband and other son because that’s what she would do for everybody. She just had tons of light and love to share with everybody.”
Rhode Island
R.I. indie pop musician Lainey Dionne on finding inspiration, writing songs for TV, and getting her start in Smithfield – The Boston Globe
“So I kick my leg up high in the air, and they all did the crowd part,” she recalls on this week’s Rhode Island Report podcast.
“To have that connection, that moment, of everybody doing the same thing at once, I was like, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.”
From there, Dionne went to Berklee College of Music in Boston; has released troves of her own music, including a 2021 full-length debut, “Self Titled;” has used her knack for writing songs for television shows and other artists; and most recently, became a voting member of the Recording Academy for the Grammy’s, as she discusses on the podcast.
“She knows what she wants in her music,” said Dewey Raposo, the Rhode Island PBS producer of “Ocean State Sessions,” a series showcasing local musicians. “I think that really comes across and that’s powerful, I think, for people watching and listening.”
Dionne will be featured in “Ocean State Sessions’ ” latest episode, which airs on Friday at 8 p.m.
The series is now in its fifth season.
“We just sort of try to bring our musicians into, you know, the homes of the people in their community,” Raposo said on the podcast, himself a musician. “It’s just a way to sort of throw some support at them and just sort of all support each other.”
To get the latest episode each week, follow Rhode Island Report podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other podcasting platforms, or listen in the player above.
Christopher Gavin can be reached at christopher.gavin@globe.com.
Rhode Island
Ocean State plays starring role in 30-minute virtual hearing • Rhode Island Current
Two hours before Rhode Island Assistant Attorney Sarah Rice made the case to a federal court judge in Providence for an even longer and more wide sweeping block to the Trump administration’s federal funding freeze, the White House budget office rescinded its memo.
Confusion clouded the 30-minute virtual hearing Wednesday afternoon, where the intent behind the White House press conference and accompanying social media posts dominated discussion. While Chief Judge John McConnell Jr. didn’t officially grant the temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, he made clear he was persuaded by the arguments of the 23 Democratic attorneys general who filed the lawsuit in federal court in Rhode Island Tuesday.
McConnell asked the attorneys to submit proposed language covering the length of time and breadth of the proposed restraining order, giving the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney representing the federal administration 24 hours to respond before McConnell will issue a ruling.
“I agree with the states,” McConnell said. “What I am continuing to question is how an order would look, what the scope of it would be, how it would be directed and implemented.”
Daniel Schwei, the DOJ attorney representing Trump and federal agency directors named in the lawsuit, had asked McConnell to toss the complaint, arguing in a two-page filing submitted minutes before the hearing that the lawsuit was moot in light of the memo being rescinded.
Rice insisted that while the document itself was no longer on the table, the intent to freeze federal funding remained, requiring immediate action to protect states who rely on the $1 trillion in federal aid for everything from wildfire fighting to transportation projects and social safety net programs like Medicaid.
“The policy, to sum it up, is freeze first, ask questions later,” Rice said. “That is the source of our harm. We cannot proceed in regular order because we are in some ways fighting a decision that has been purposefully obscured.”
The policy, to sum it up, is freeze first, ask questions later. That is the source of our harm. We cannot proceed in regular order because we are in some ways fighting a decision that has been purposefully obscured.
– Rhode Island Assistant Attorney Sarah Rice
Like the lawsuit filed in D.C. by a group of nonprofit, health care and business groups, the AGs’ complaint leans heavily on constitutional framing, framing the Trump administration’s move as a violation of the 10th Amendment, separation of powers and the “spending clause” — which gives the federal purse strings to Congress, not the executive branch.
Second federal judge seems to be prepared to block Trump spending pause
A federal judge in D.C. issued a temporary administrative stay in response to that lawsuit, preventing the Trump administration from freezing federal grants and aid until at least Feb. 3.
However, the AGs’ complaint goes farther, names not only Trump and acting federal budget director Matt Vaeth, but also other federal cabinet members who oversee federal education, emergency, environmental and health care funding. A temporary restraining order would prevent them from enforcing any type of funding freeze, Rice told McConnell.
McConnell appeared to agree, speaking to the “irreparable harm” a freeze would impose on state governments and in turn, the millions of people who depend on their services.
Even with the memo rescinded, the Trump administration is “acting with a distinction without a difference,” he said.
“Ms. Rice has convinced me that while the piece of paper may not exist, there’s sufficient evidence that the defendants collectively are acting consistent with that directive, and therefore the argument they have about needing a TRO for various legal rights exists,” McConnell said.
The AGs had not filed their proposed wording for a temporary restraining order as of 6:30 p.m. Wednesday.
There’s always a Rhode Island angle
McConnell began the virtual proceeding by welcoming the attorneys to the “creative capital,” home to “some of the finest restaurants and arts and culture scene known to the country.”
McConnell also highlighted the written testimony of Rhode Island Department of Administration Director Jonathan Womer as particularly compelling because Rhode Island is where McConnell lives. Womer was among the slew of administrators across all 22 states who wrote in support of the temporary restraining order to keep critical state services afloat.
Rhode Island has received more than $5 billion in federal funding as of Jan. 28 — equal to more than one third of the state’s fiscal 2025 budget, Womer wrote in his testimony, submitted Tuesday.
“Understanding OMB 25-13 has been a difficult undertaking,” Womer wrote. “Under one reading, it appears that all federal funding assistance with few exceptions will be paused for more than a week. Under another reading, only certain categories of funding may be paused. But it is unclear exactly which categories may be affected because OMB 25-13 does not specify categories of funds in an identifiable manner. Planning for such an about-face with less than 24-hours notice is not possible.”
State agencies charged with overseeing federally funded programs were unable to access funds on Tuesday, Womer wrote, including the state Medicaid office, which confirmed after calling the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the system was temporarily down on Tuesday. CMS did not specify when the pause would be lifted, but told Rhode Island Medicaid leaders not to expect any updates in writing, according to Womer’s testimony.
Other state agencies unable to access the federal payment system for essential programs included the Rhode Island Departments of Health, Labor and Training, Environmental Management and Human Services, according to Womer.
I agree with the states. What I am continuing to question is how an order would look, what the scope of it would be, how it would be directed and implemented.
– Chief Judge John McConnell Jr., U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
Also heavy on Rhode Island leaders’ minds: the fate of the Washington Bridge rebuild, which hinges on $220 million in federal funding that was already approved under the Biden administration.
Rhode Island’s congressional delegation in a Jan. 25 letter to Vaeth asked for confirmation that the Washington Bridge grant, along with another $250 million in federal funds for other bridgework along Rhode Island’s Interstate 95 corridor, would be released as expected.
“As of filing, there has been no response to clarify that this money would not be impacted,” the Jan. 28 lawsuit against Trump, Vaeth and other federal agency heads reads.
The Rhode Island Office of the Attorney General was one of six co-leads on the lawsuit. Together, the half dozen Democratic attorneys general chose to file in Rhode Island, Tim Rondeau, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island Attorney General’s office, said in an email.
“Different states will lead different efforts and lead states may choose different venues for filing: Pretty standard,” Rondeau wrote.
McConnell has been a top player in Rhode Island’s political and legal scene for decades. A Providence native and Brown University graduate, he was appointed as a federal judge by President Barack Obama in 2010 and confirmed in 2011. His confirmation came despite objections by U.S. Senate Republicans who criticized McConnell for his prolific donations to top Democratic political action committees and candidates — including Obama and U.S. Sens. Sheldon Whitehouse and Jack Reed — according to a 2020 investigation by CQ Roll Call. McConnell served as treasurer of the Rhode Island Democratic State Committee for 14 years, starting in the 1990s, and was appointed to represent Rhode Island in the 2008 Electoral College vote, Roll Call reported.
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